total confusion; pre-school, nursery, playgroup???

My ds (2.5) currently attends a day nursery 1.5 days a week, the rest of the time he is with me.My MIL says he should attend full time pre-school to prepare him for school life and further his education prior to starting school. He will start school 'late' as he is an October birthday. What does he need?? I'm so confused

all those options follow the sameplay-based curriculum, the Early Yaers Foundation stage and are all inspected by ofstedall will help him prepare for school by building on his confidence, independence and attention and listening skillsreally, it all depends what you need, as he will still be prepared wherever you send him

A lot of areas only offer 1/2 days of pre-school or Nursery now anyway.It's totally up to you what you want him to do.Also, be aware that different settings can call themselves by the same name and offer different things, and sometimes the same thing can be called different things, so don't be confused into thinking 'pre-school' means one thing, and Nursery another - it isn't that straightforward.

All children should get 15hours of funded place, from the term after their 3rd birthday, so in your case, after Christmas once he turns 3 This can be used in a day nursery or a school's nursery class, or a play group, or a 'pre-school', or an independent nursery or a state stand alone nursery school.People have different preferences as to which they choose.

Generally - a school Nursery class or a stand alone nursery school will be led by a qualified teacher but if there's a teacher in charge, then the ratios drop to 1:13Usually (you do get exceptions) staff in PVIs (Private, voluntary and Independent) tend to be less qualified, but the ratio is higher 1:8 in the Pre-school rooms.Some Nurseries insist on all dc doing either 5 mornings or 5 afternoons. Some insist on it being 2.5 days, others let you choose.If you wanted, you can use the hours at 2 different settings.

You can of course pay for more time if you want/need to.You can of course not use the free hours at all.

As insancerre says - all of the providers should be following the same curriculum (EYFS), but you will find individual settings to be very different in their approaches, and that's not linked to which sort of setting it is.

I'm getting confused by all this too - I have a ds at the same age, wanted to keep him in his nursery until he started school but my sister's daughter, who is 3, has just started school - preschool I guess, but at an actual school, with a uniform and attached to the main primary, and my family insist I should be applying for schools for my ds now. I suspect this may be to force us into moving as we want to move before he starts school and they want us to move closer to them...

Mine did a few mornings a week gradually increasing to every morning nearer school starting.I don't think long term it will make much difference as long as you do school readiness things at home e.g. getting dressed, eating meals etc. his time at pre school even if just 1.5 days will help him with routines.You know your child, is he quite good at these things or do you think increasing his hours would help.At the end of the day, reception year is for preparing and settling so don't worry. Children will develop at their own rate.